Lahaina residents worry a rebuilt Maui town could slip into the hands of affluent outsiders

By AUDREY McAVOY and CLAIRE RUSH
Associated Press

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — The cost to live in Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui keeps rising thanks to a chronic housing shortage and an influx of second-home buyers and wealthy transplants snatching up properties. Now, after a fast-moving wildfire incinerated much of the compact coastal settlement, there is concern that rebuilt homes will target affluent outsiders seeking a tropical haven rather than homegrown residents who give Lahaina its spirit and identity. That would turbo-charge what is already one of Hawaii’s gravest and biggest challenges: the exodus and displacement of Native Hawaiian and local-born residents who can no longer afford to live in their homeland.